Happy 1st Birthday Clover!

I can't believe my baby is one!! This has been the fastest year of our lives. Last January 14th (Clover's due date) I went to bed feeling suspicious that tonight just might be the night. Even Charlie was acting a little strange. At 2am I woke up with my first contraction and immediately couldn't walk, talk, or sleep through them, which is what my Midwife told me would be the sign that I was in real labor. Michael packed up the rest of our bags and loaded the car while I took a bath and we were out the door by 4am. It became clear during the drive in that I would definitely be needing an epidural. From the beginning, my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart lasting 1 minute each. We got checked in and the midwife told me I was already 5cm dilated. I got my epidural at 6am. By 10am I was 9cm dilated and they decided to break my water. It took 4 more hours to get to 10cm and then it was time too push. I pushed for an hour and out came Clover Ann at 3:17pm! 13 hours of labor, 1 hour of pushing, and the beginning of the best year of my life.

Clover's birthday was a special day. I was a mess the entire week leading up to it and once it arrived I didn't want it to end. We were happy to have our closest family and friends here to celebrate and had a great time.



Our good friends Jack and Terri Adishian sent this box to Clover, complete with Birthday balloons and a new Summer outfit! She played in the box for two days, played with the balloons for 2 weeks, and is looking forward to wearing the outfit in a few months! Thanks again...we love you!


The garage refrigerator all set with party food.


Ellie and Kaj aren't wasting any time on the Pirates Booty :)


My beautiful cupcakes! I've never made anything like this before and I'm really proud of how they turned out.


Fairy cupcakes up close.



Name that baby game. Michael's sister Heather won!

Clover's favorite snacks....cranberries, cheerios and blueberries. I put Michael in charge of counting. Our friend Greg won this game.


The happy birthday girl with one of her favorite gifts.....Mommy and Me swim lessons with our neighbor Sydney and her Mommy Christy!



It was a full house!



Clover opening all of her birthday gifts.



Clover eating her smash cake! I made a giant cupcake that matched all the little ones. She loved it! I put so much frosting on the top though that it took her awhile to get through it all to the actual cake. By that time she was full, so she ended up with a belly full of cream cheese frosting and ran around the house like a wild monkey for the next two hours.


When Clover was around 3 months old I had the idea to start organizing pictures for a slide show documenting her first year. I gave them all to Grandpa and he worked his magic! We played this slide show during her party. *Warning* you way want to grab a tissue :) Enjoy!

Thanks again to Grandpa for documenting Clover's 1st Birthday party on tape!

Oregon Coast

We had our 2nd annual Lowe/Hughes reunion on the Oregon coast in November. Last year I was 5 months pregnant and the house was full of three rambunctious dogs. This year we had an energetic 10 month old added to the mix. A lot can change in a year!

The weather wasn't great. We spent a lot of time inside working on puzzles, playing games, eating and drinking. We only went into town once where we did some shopping and watched a huge pack of Sea Lions camped out under the docks, which Clover loved. It was nice to have an excuse to stay inside, spend relaxing time together, and let Clover get to know her Uncle Brian, Aunt Valerie, and fur cousins Edwardo and Otis.

The day before we left Clover came down with a 102.6 fever. She didn't have any other symptoms of being sick aside from being a little fussy and clingy, and after speaking with the pediatric nurse on the phone we were pretty sure she had Roseola. Roseola is a viral illness most commonly affecting kids between 6 months and 2 years old. It is usually marked by a sudden on set of high fever lasting several days, followed by a rash just as the fever breaks. We were given the OK to travel so we packed up. Clover did great! She acted like her happy joyful self and entertained us all. She even did great in on the 10 hour drive to and from the beach house. We had her on a schedule for Tylenol and Motrin to keep her fever down and by the last morning of our trip it was back to normal and her rash showed up, which didn't seem to bother her in the least.

We are already looking forward to next year!

Clover being a good girl on the road!

Clover and Uncle Brian reading stories together

Silly time with Grandpa

Posing like the little ham that she is

I love this picture of Brian and Clover. The second I saw it I remembered the next picture of him kissing me from the bathtub when we were kids.

Michael and Charlie turning in early on the first night

Clover and Auntie Valerie

Grandma and Grandpa

An afternoon out shopping during a sun break.

Clover loved watching the Sea Lions!

Happy girl enjoying Thai food on our last night

One big happy family...fur babies and all!

Clover's First Christmas

Walking, Talking, and Stair Climbing

Little Miss Giggles

Clover's first steps!

10 months and 1 week old.

Clover's 10 month update.

I can't believe how fast the time goes by. I feel like I'm always saying this now, but it's true! Only two more months and Clover will be One! I realized the other day that I need to actually start thinking about her party because it will be here before we know it. Clover is very close to walking and loves pushing her wagon around the house and the neighborhood. She can push it all the way around the block! She babbles constantly now, experimenting with new sounds everyday. Her favorite word is "Dada" and she cheers this while jumping up and down and flapping her arms or clapping whenever "Dada" enters the room. It must be nice to have a fan club. She can say "Mama", but doesn't very often. When I try to get her to say it she responds with "Dada"! HA, what are ya do? Clover loves to wave to everyone and everything and say "hi" or "bub, bye". Her newest trick is clapping and she'll do this in celebration of just about anything you can think of. This morning she watched me open the refrigerator door and promptly started bouncing on her knees and clapping before crawling over to look inside......the refrigerator and the dishwasher a both a big hit in this house! Clover is a great little sleeper (knock on wood)! She sleeps 11 hours stretches now and even goes back to sleep for another hour in the morning after I feed her. She also happily takes two 2 - 2 1/2 hour naps during the day. This is great news for Mommy, because anyone who knows me well, knows that I LOVE sleep and can't get enough of it. I'm thankful she inherited this hobby of mine :) Oh, and I almost forgot....Clover finally got her first tooth!! It's her bottom right one. I expect to see more soon, but you never know....it took nearly 10 months grow his one.


Happily enjoying the Cheerios that Great Grandma and Gran'dad sent in her Halloween card!

Bundled up and pushing her wagon around the block on a cold November day.

Helping Mommy unload the dishwasher.

Chowin' down on some bread at the Olive Garden for Daddy's Birthday!

Practicing her stair climbing. She likes to go up and down the first 2 stairs, but doesn't really seem interested in going any further.....what a cautious little girl!

Walking practice with Grandpa